128 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEMS

in order to preserve stability. A static capacitor, however, does not have this effect. The
impedance of the synchronous capacitor increases with frequency and is, therefore, useless for
harmonic filtering. Also, synchronous capacitor, besides being noisy, it is costlier and has greater
losses than a static capacitor. The reactive power of a synchronous capacitor can be controlled
whereas a static capacitor can supply only a fixed amount of Vars. However, whereas a static
capacitor can be made for any voltage a synchronous capacitor is usually of low voltage say 33
kV which, therefore, requires special provision usually in the form of tertiary winding on the
converter transformer. Therefore, in regard to choice of type of reactive VAr compensator,
following recommendations are made:
1. A static capacitor is always required for filtering and for this purpose its rating is about
20 to 30% of the power rating of the converter. Switching by sections is to be avoided.
2. A synchronous capacitor is, for stability reasons, a must in a system where the a.c.
terminal voltage reduces below the minimum by 30% for over 0.5 sec. due to the sudden
blocking of the station.
3. In case the installed generating capacity in the nearby plant is not sufficient synchronous
capacitors are connected to low voltage tertiary windings of the converter transformer.

5.13 PARALLEL OPERATION OF d.c. LINK WITH AN a.c. NETWORK

In case of a d.c. link the power to be transmitted depends upon the four control parameters Vr,
Vi, α and β, all of which can be controlled more or less independently over a desired range.
Thus when a d.c. system is operated in parallel with an a.c. system (Fig. 5.23) following objectives
can be achieved:
(a) Constant current flow.
(b) Constant power flow.
(c) Constant angle between the a.c. bus bar voltages.
(b) Constant voltage at either end.

q1 – q2 = d Level of power
flow in a.c. link
V1 Ð q1 a.c. link V2 Ð q2
with d.c. link
V1 V2
jx P= sin d
Load X
R
Generator
d.c. link
30° 80° d
(a) (b)

Fig. 5.23 (a) a.c. and d.c. connected in parallel (b) Power angle diagram for a.c. link.

Controls as suggested at (a) and (b) have already been discussed. Control at (c) helps in
improving transient stability of the system. Better utilisation of the a.c. transmission lines can
result. It is known that in case of a.c. lines power transmitted is given by the expression